This Side of the Hereafter
by This Ren
Summary: As Abby helps Gibbs track down the monster who violently stole Tony's life, she must help her friend come to terms with his demise, and help him remember who killed him before it's too late. Psychic!Abby and Tabby friendship.
1. Chapter 1: The Elevator Scene

**Disclaimer: **I don't own NCIS. Not even just a little bit.

**A/N: **There are just a few things before we begin:

**1)** This fic is finished. There are 7 chapters, and I'll be updating every few days. The chapters aren't long, and they're all pretty much the same length.

**2)** There are no relationships in this story, however there is some Tabby friendship.

**3)** There is some graphic content, that's why it's rated so highly.

**4)** What you've read in the summery is what you're going to get. If you don't like Tabby friendship, or the idea of psychics, or sad/angsty stories, don't read this. You're only wasting your time, and do you really want to spend valuable moments of your life reading something that you already know is going to happen? Save yourself the trouble and click the back button.

**5)** I love hearing what you have to say! If you have any constructive remarks, please share them with me in a review, however, if you want to be a jerk, don't bother leaving a review. Flames only waste your time and make me laugh.

**Now, **on with the story!

**Chapter 1**

**The Elevator Scene**

Abby was not a happy camper. No, she definitely was not. She'd left work late that night, after finishing a ballistics report for Gibbs, and had been intent upon going to bed and staying there all weekend. It was the first weekend she'd had off in nearly a month- between a number of rough cases for Gibbs and several other's from different agents in the building, she'd been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. She'd been looking forward to doing nothing work related all weekend.

The call from Gibbs had not been welcome, but something in his voice on the phone had her agreeing to be back at the Navy Yard in an hour. It was nearly three o'clock in the morning then, and she'd grumbled all the way from her coffin, to her dresser, to the bathroom, and out the front door. Why did cases always have to come in so early in the morning anyway? Couldn't people get killed at a decent hour?

She sipped from a Caf-Pow she'd pulled from her fridge on the way into work, and was sure it was the only thing that was keeping her awake. She didn't know what she'd do without her daily dose of Caf-Pow. Probably sleep all day. She laughed to herself at that thought, wondering what Gibbs would say if he walked into her lab to find her passed out over her computer, in the middle of running a specimen sample. It probably wouldn't be pretty.

The parking lot was pitch black when she pulled into her usual space and got out of the car. Gibbs Charger was just a few spaces down for hers, situated between Ducky's Morgan and Ziva's Mini Cooper. At least she'd have good company. Team Gibbs was easily her favorite team, and they were always visiting her and bringing her Caf-Pows, unlike the others. The other's didn't care if she was exhausted, and while she still had a job to do when Gibbs came calling, at least he brought her an incentive to get the job done- a delicious Caf-Pow to make up for her trouble.

She waved to the security guard in the lobby as she passed by his desk, and he gave her a wave back. She'd always liked the night staff. They were so much friendlier than the day staff- always willing to stop what they were doing to have a conversation. Abby didn't have time for a conversation that night, but a smile and a wave from the guard behind the desk, Stanley if she remembered correctly, was enough to make her not so bitter about having to come into work so early on her weekend off.

The elevator doors slid open with a ding and Abby almost didn't notice Tony standing in its depths. He was standing in the middle staring in front of him with a blank expression on her face that she found to be more than a little unsettling. Was Tony ever silent? No. Did he ever look so lost? No. This was definitely not good.

"Good morning," she greeted him, putting on more cheer than she was actually feeling as she pressed the button for her floor and waited for the doors to close.

"Hey Abs," he looked over at her, confusion clouding his handsome face.

Tony was definitely a handsome man. He certainly wasn't her type, but she wouldn't say anything negative about him. He was so vibrant and funny, with always something to say at the drop of a hat. She loved his movie quotes, and his crazy pop culture references. It was just so hard to not love Tony. He was just a loveable person. It was for this reason that she found it so disconcerting to see him looking so out of it. Tony never looked out of it.

"Are you okay?" She couldn't help but ask, knowing that something was wrong.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay," Tony nodded.

"Bad case?" She pressed, switching her purse from one arm to the other, feeling like their needed to be some kind of movement in the small space.

"What?" Tony seemed confused.

"The case? The one Gibbs called me in to work on? I asked if it was a tough one," Abby responded, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Oh, yeah, I guess so," Tony turned back to look at the elevator doors. "I'm kind of tired."

"Yeah, me too," Abby nodded.

"I feel all fuzzy," Tony admitted.

"Like a teddy bear?" She wondered, reaching out to feel his skin, but he pulled back.

"No, like I'm in a fog," Tony clarified.

"You need a day off," Abby said. "So do I. Let's get this case over with so we can take a break."

"Yeah," Tony nodded his head slightly, just as the elevator doors slid open on Abby's floor.

"I'll see you later Tony. Maybe we can get breakfast if the boss man isn't running you too ragged," Abby suggested, stepping out of the elevator and looking over her shoulder at him as she spoke.

It sent a chill down her spine when he said, "yeah, breakfast."

The doors shut on him, but Abby continued to stare at the elevator feeling like something was wrong. This was not typical Tony behavior. A tired Tony was usually more obnoxious than usual- more talkative and bouncy. Maybe it was the case that was getting to him, or maybe the utter exhaustion she herself was feeling was catching up with him. Whatever it was, it was not good.

She had only the walk to her lab to dwell on Tony's behavior in the elevator though, because Gibbs was waiting for her with a box of evidence and a clipboard. The look on his face told her that something was wrong, and she recalled the way his voice had sounded on the phone when he'd called to ask her to come in. She didn't think she'd ever seen him look so pained.

"Hey," she greeted, heading straight for her office to drop her bag beneath her desk and drape her black jacket over her computer chair before heading back into the lab and stopping in front of Gibbs. "What's up, Gibbs? You look terrible. This a bad one?"

"The worst," Gibbs nodded, handing her the clipboard, which she signed with a flourish.

"That seems to be the consensus. I just had the weirdest conversation-" she stopped talking as she took stock of what was in the evidence box. "Tony has a jacket just like that."

"That is Tony's jacket," Gibbs responded, his eyes moving to look at the black leather fabric.

"Why is Tony's jacket in evidence?" Abby wondered, snapping on a pair of latex gloves and pulling the jacket from the box, revealing what was beneath it. "And his pants? And his shirt?"

She assumed that this was why he'd been so distracted on the elevator. Something had happened and he'd had to hand in his expensive designer clothes. She mentally vowed to be careful with the valuable fabric she was now holding. It would only upset him further if she ruined his things. But of course she knew him better than to think that it was the clothing that had Tony so distracted. Of course that couldn't be the problem. He'd lost plenty of clothes to tests before, and these were no more special than all the others. If his clothes were in evidence, and he was so upset, he must have known the victim.

"Oh god, Gibbs," Abby looked up at the older man sharply, but his eyes were still on the evidence box. "Who was it? Not his neighbor, Mrs. O'Leary I hope. She was such a nice old lady, always bringing over potato soup."

"Abby," Gibbs turned his head to look at her, the pain in his eyes still visible.

Gibbs was upset. This was not good. If Gibbs was upset, and Tony's clothes were in evidence, it could only mean one thing. They'd only called her when there was evidence for her to process- it didn't mean that they weren't working a hard, dangerous case before then.

"Who?" Abby demanded, setting the leather jacket on the stainless steel table beside the evidence box.

Her heart was pounding as she waited for the words to escape Gibbs lips- as she waited to hear who was dead. Was it McGee? Nerdy, sweet McGee? Was it Ziva? Kick-ass, ninja assassin Ziva? She didn't want it to be either of them. She didn't want anybody to be dead.

"Tony." His voice cracked only slightly as he delivered the news.

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**A/N: **So what do you think? Weird? Terrible? Amazing? Blah? Let me know your thoughts!


	2. Chapter 2: The Nana Scuito Scene

**Disclaimer: **I don't own NCIS.

**A/N: **A little background on Abby.

**Chapter 2**

**The Nana Scuito Scene**

Abby had seen her first 'ghost' when she was only a small child. She'd been at school, sitting on the bench waiting to talk with the principal about how Billy Jenkins had been teasing her about her pigtails when the elderly janitor had come to sit beside her. He'd held her hand in his and told her that everything was going to be alright, that the principal wasn't really as scary as some of the other kids tried to make him seem. She remembered thinking that his hand had been awfully cold, like she'd been holding onto an ice cube. It wasn't until the end of the school day that she found out the janitor who had sat with her that morning had died of a heart attack the night before.

That experience had confused her. The janitor really couldn't have been dead. Sure, his hand had been cold, but he was such a nice guy, and he really hadn't seemed dead. She'd gone home to tell her parents all about it, but neither of them believed her. Even her younger brother thought her imagination had been playing with her. It wasn't until her Nana had come for a visit that she'd gotten answers.

When she was a little girl, Nana Scuito had seemed like the oldest person on earth. All the wrinkles on her face made the skin sag, and she couldn't walk anywhere without her cane. Whenever she came to visit, she'd sit out in the old rocking chair on the porch for hours and hours, from sunrise to sunset just about, and Abby would always sit at her feet and implore her to tell her about the old days, when she was a girl. Nana Scuito always obliged, telling her fantastical tales of horses and special gardens and lengthy trips to the beach.

It was Nana Scuito who had explained to her what she'd experienced that day at school. She had a gift- a very special gift. She had the ability to see those people who had recently passed away. It had not set well with young Abby, who had demanded to know why she had this 'gift' when nobody else did. Why did she have to be the freak that saw dead people? Why couldn't Bubba be the one with the 'gift'? Nana Scuito had scolded her for her anger, telling her not to argue. She had a special gift, and she had to use it to help people. People who had passed would come to her, and she would have to help them move on.

She wished she'd embraced this gift while Nana Scuito had still been alive. It would have made things a whole lot easier. Nana Scuito was brilliant. She knew how to help people, just as her mother, Abby's great grandmother, had known how to help the people who needed it. Abby had refused her 'gift' though. She'd ignored the people who came to her- pretended they weren't there. She didn't want to help them. They could help themselves. It was Nana Scuito who had set her straight.

It was summer, and she'd just turned thirteen. She'd left her bedroom window open in hopes that a breeze would blow through to cool her down, but it never happened. She'd tossed and turned, flipped her pillow over to the cool side several times, and had gone so far as to put bags of ice on her feet. It was for this reason that she was still awake. How could she possibly sleep when she felt like the air was going to suffocate her with its heat? It was Nana Scuito who had helped her sleep that night. She'd fallen asleep crying softly while Nana Scuito ran her icy cold hand through her hair.

Her entire outlook had changed after Nana Scuito was gone. If Nana Scuito wasn't there to help the people who needed help moving on, it was up to Abby to take over the job. If only she'd had Nana Scuito's way with people! She had no idea how to deal with the dead who came to her. They spoke of their families, and their troubles, and their fears. One young man had spoken to her for so long about how he wished he'd never joined the military that she'd been late for school and her mother had grounded her for two weeks. She didn't know what else she was supposed to do but listen- let them connect the foggy memories in their brains and figure out what needed to be figured out so they could pass on.

As time went on, she got better. It got easier to tell who was alive and who was dead. She remembered seeing Kate sitting in her lab while she processed the evidence surrounding her murder. Kate had been so lost and confused, unsure of what had happened and why it had been her that Ari had chosen to be the one to die. While she tried to figure out what gun had been used to kill her friend, Abby had listened to Kate connect the dots of her life- from her childhood with her sister, to her time in the Secret Service, and then joining NCIS and meeting Gibbs. She remembered laughing through her tears as Kate admitted to the crush she had on Gibbs, despite his surly demeanor.

Kate hadn't stuck around for very long. As soon as Ari had been killed, she'd said her goodbyes and disappeared into the ether, leaving Abby to mourn her with the others. Losing Kate had been worse than losing Nana Scuito. At least she'd known her Nana was dying. Kate's death had been so unexpected that for days, Abby had woken up wondering if it had all been a dream. She would grab her phone and call Kate only to hear her familiar voicemail message, and she knew that it had been no dream.

It had been different when Jenny died. It hadn't been immediate, like Kate, but she'd shown up eventually. Abby had assumed she wouldn't see Jenny before she passed into the ether, so when she'd gone home the night the team had been disbanded, she'd been shocked to see Jenny sitting on her couch. Unlike Kate, Jenny had been afraid to move on. It wasn't an uncommon fear, and Abby had stayed up all night with her assuring her that she would be alright. She'd actually been pretty relieved when Jenny had passed on. She always hated the depressed ones- not that she hated Jenny at all.

If those cases had been different, this one was out of this world. Everything inside of her was torn to pieces as she sat in her lab, Tony's things scattered on the stainless steel table in front of her. There was the part of her that was angry for not realizing the exact extent of Tony's problem in the elevator- it really should have been obvious to her that he was a 'ghost'. Then there was the part of her that just wanted to break down sobbing. Tony was dead! Tony, who she had known for over a decade and had seen on a daily basis was dead! It had hurt when Kate died, yes, but she hadn't known Kate for ten years. She hadn't known Jenny for ten years. Another part of her was angry that Tony was dead in the first place. Who would hurt her loveable Tony? Who could possibly even think about taking his life? Sure he was annoying and obnoxious at times, but that was part of his charm.

Gibbs hadn't been his usual self as he explained to her the case. He told her how Metro had alerted them to the discovery of Tony's body in his car in one of the parking lots at Goldman's Park. Abby had pointed out how Tony had enjoyed running through that park because it wasn't too far from his apartment, and the running trail was good when it came to maintenance. That didn't explain why Tony had been there though, dressed in his work clothes, in the middle of the night.

She thought about going down to see him, but couldn't make herself. Even if she was going through his things- his clothes, and his shoes, and his badge and gun, and a number of different things they'd pulled from his car- she could pretend that they belonged to somebody else. She could pretend that Tony wasn't dead, and that she'd spoke to _him_ in the elevator that morning, and not a 'ghost'. It was ridiculous to hold out, but it kept her from crawling under her desk and blocking out the world.

McGee stopped by just before six to ask if she wanted to go to breakfast with him. She hadn't seen him look so dejected since Kate had died, but she couldn't accept the invitation. He said the word breakfast, and her mind went back to that morning, when she'd stepped out the elevator and suggested she and Tony get breakfast. It felt like a lifetime had gone by since then at that point, but the word was enough to make tears well in her eyes. McGee had gone off not long after that, expressing his wish to have gone with Gibbs and Ziva to check out Tony's apartment with a sigh.

Something in her thought it was funny how the moment you died, you lost all sense of privacy. Tony was the victim in this heinous crime, but they were tearing apart his life, searching for clues, as if he'd done something wrong. They were digging through all of his personal possessions, going through his e-mails and phone records and bank accounts. By the end of the case they'd know exactly how he spent his money, where he kept his naughty magazines, and who he was calling on a regular basis. Tony was the victim, but he was undergoing the same scrutiny that his murderer would endure. It wasn't funny in the slightest, but that small part of Abby couldn't help but laugh.

She didn't leave her lab until nearly noon. Her babies were running their tests and her stomach was grumbling loudly. She didn't want to leave her lab, feeling like she was slacking on the case when she stepped out the door. Didn't Tony's murder deserve her entire attention? How could she possibly take a break for food when the bastard who had murdered her friend was still out there? She'd held off for as long as she could before leaving her lab to find some sustenance. She'd be worthless to Tony if she couldn't concentrate on the work due to hunger pains.

* * *

**Any Thoughts?**


	3. Chapter 3: The Second Elevator Scene

**Disclaimer: **I don't own NCIS.

**Chapter 3**

**The Second Elevator Scene**

The ding of the elevator, she swore, was louder than usual. The doors slid open to a scene that made her want to cry. Tony stood in the exact same spot he'd been standing so early that morning, still staring blankly at the wall in front of him. She almost didn't board. What could she say to him? He was her friend, and he was dead, and she didn't know how to help him feel better about the situation.

"Are you coming?" He asked her after a moment, turning his blank green eyes on her.

She stepped into the elevator, confirming that she was without words. He turned his eyes back to the wall and lapsed back into silence. They hadn't gotten far before she flipped the emergency switch and the elevator shuddered to a halt, the lights blinking out.

"What are you doing, Abs?" Tony wondered, turning to her with his brow furrowed in confusion. At least he was displaying some kind of emotion.

For a moment she had no idea how to respond to him, but then he was speaking, and the burden was gone.

"Where is everybody? It's so deserted in here. You're the only person I've seen all day," Tony said. "There hasn't even been a guard. Aren't they supposed to be doing rounds? I know its Saturday and all, but if you have to work, don't they?"

He couldn't see the other people in the building. It was the norm for 'ghosts' to only see her. She hadn't researched it, but she assumed it had something to do with the fact that the deceased weren't actually on this plane of existence. She, herself, straddled that plane, walking in both. It was why she could see him and the others, but they couldn't see each other.

"They're here. You just can't see them," Abby explained to him, reaching out for his hand, and shuddering at the icy coldness that enveloped her own.

"Did they suddenly go invisible?" He joked, and while the chill in the air still unsettled her, at least he was being Tony again. "I didn't know everybody was harboring secret superpowers."

"You're somewhere else, Tony. You're not actually here. That's why you can't see them. That's why they can't see you," Abby tried to be gentle about it.

'Ghosts' often were confused by the lack of people in their environment. They were drawn to her because they could interact with her. Some took the news well, and other's took it terribly, insisting they see their friends and family before they pass into the ether. Tony didn't really fit into either of these categories, she quickly learned.

"What? You're talking to me right now, Abs," he pointed out.

"I'm special," Abby told him. "It's why you see me but not the others. It's my job to help you."

"Help me what?" The befuddled look on his face, she had to admit, was more than slightly adorable.

"Pass on," Abby said.

It nearly broke her heart to say it. This was Tony. He wasn't supposed to be dead. She wasn't supposed to be helping him move on. She didn't want to. She wanted him to be alive.

"Pass on?" He asked skeptically, cocking an eyebrow at her. "How many Caf-Pows have you had today, Abs? You're not making any sense. First I'm somewhere else, and now I'm supposed to be passing on? Perhaps you should go easy on the movies."

What? It was Abby's turn to be confused.

"Tony, when you die, you have to pass on," Abby said. "If you don't you'll be consumed by the darkness."

She'd only seen it happen once in her lifetime. It was rare for a soul to refuse to pass on. It had been described to her as a pulling sensation, the feeling of really needing to be somewhere else but not being able to get there. Fighting that draw wasn't easy, and many people didn't attempt it. The only man she'd seen consumed by the darkness had fought death, and her, the entire three days she'd known him.

His name was Darnell. He was a middle-aged politician who planned on running for office in the next election. Abby had been in college at the time, and she'd tried everything to persuade him to give up his life in the spotlight and pass into the ether, but he'd refused. He had insisted there was a way for him to come back, and he'd spent days trying to figure out how, even though she assured him there was no possible way for it to happen. Dead was dead. You couldn't put a soul back in a dead body. If it was that easy, Abby would have lost far fewer friends. The darkness had been like an extension of a shadow, sliding out from a dark corner to swarm around Darnell. It had been the scariest thing she'd ever witnessed, and his screams had stayed with her for years afterwards.

Whatever the darkness actually was, Abby didn't know. She could have done research on it, but she found it too frightening. Besides, how could she possibly look it up? As far as she knew, her 'gift' was not very common, and not many people were aware that whatever the darkness was existed. She couldn't google it and expect to find an answer.

"What are you talking about Abby?" Tony demanded, pulling his hand from hers and tucking it into the pocket of his leather jacket- the same leather jacket that was sitting on her lab table in an evidence bag.

"You can't fight moving on, Tony," Abby tried to make him understand. "If you do you'll regret it. I'll help you. It won't be bad."

She would help him. As much as she didn't want to lose him, she'd rather he pass into the ether than be consumed and destroyed by the darkness.

"You've got this all wrong, Abby," Tony shook his head vehemently. "I'm not passing on. I'm not dead!"

"What?" This was not something she had encountered before.

"I'm not dead!" Tony repeated himself. "Have you been drinking on the job, Abs? What the hell?"

Everybody she had ever encountered before had known they were dead. Kate had known she was dead- she'd even gone so far as to tell her, with more detail than was necessary, exactly how it felt to feel a bullet go through your head, how it felt to have all the lights blink off in a single moment. It had been very disconcerting to hear.

"Tony," she pleaded, but she had no idea what exactly she was pleading for.

"This is ridiculous," Tony snarled at her, reaching forward to snap the elevator back on.

The lights flooded the room, and the elevator kicked a bit as it snapped into motion. Abby didn't know quite what to do. Tony was dead- Gibbs had told her, and Gibbs wouldn't lie to her. What was she supposed to do if he didn't think that he was gone? She couldn't help him pass on if he refused to believe that he was no longer alive. The thought of him being consumed by the darkness almost made her cry. She couldn't see that happening to Tony.

When the elevator doors dinged open, revealing the hallway to her lab, Abby tried to stop him from leaving, but he marched out the doors and promptly faded. If she hadn't been sure he was dead before, she was very sure he was dead after seeing that.

* * *

**A/N: **Any thoughts?

**And, **don't forget to look up This Ren on Facebook!


	4. Chapter 4: The Autopsy Scene

**Disclaimer: **I don't own NCIS.

**Chapter 4**

**The Autopsy Scene**

She stopped in a nearby deli to pick up lunch- a turkey sandwich wrap with greens and sprouts and spicy mayo. It was her favorite deli close to the Navy Yard, and she wanted to be back in the lab as quickly as possible. Not only did she have to figure out who had killed Tony and make them pay for it- because they were definitely going to pay for killing her friend- she had to figure out how to save Tony from the darkness that was surely threatening him now.

How could he not know that he was dead? That was going to have to be her first problem to solve. Perhaps he just refused to believe that he'd been murdered. She'd met a few people who had at first refused to believe that they were actually dead- but they hadn't seemed as clueless as Tony had. They had attempted to live their lives like normal until they were ready to accept what was going on, while Tony had seemed generally shocked by the news. Didn't he remember being murdered?

He was not in the elevator when she got back to the Navy Yard. It was completely empty, but this didn't surprise her. He had not been happy when he'd left. She would have to figure out how to approach him about the subject. She could not go on letting him ignore the fact that he was dead.

She didn't have to wait long to find him. He was sitting on the small stool in her lab when she arrived back there. She watched him rise as she entered the room, and he followed her into her office. He didn't say anything while she tossed her purse beneath the desk and left her paper bag of food beside her keyboard. As she was pulling off her coat, he opened his mouth.

"I've forgiven you for what you said in the elevator," he announced, leaning against the door frame.

She didn't respond until she was sitting in her desk chair, and swiveled it around to face him- her lunch forgotten despite her rumbling stomach.

"You forgive me?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"You said I was dead. It was very rude," Tony scolded her.

"It's not rude if it's the truth!" Abby tried.

"I'm going to take back my forgiveness if you don't stop," Tony warned her, pulling himself away from the wall, straightening his back and shoving his hands in his pockets. "I'm not dead, Abby. I would know if I was dead, and I'm not. I don't know what's going on right now, but I'm going to figure it out. Since you're the only person here, you can help me, but only if you stop trying to insist that I'm dead. That is not the answer."

"Don't you remember, Tony?" Abby pushed. "Don't you remember what happened?"

"What I remember isn't important," Tony shook his head. "I don't remember dying, and that's what is."

How could he not remember dying?

"What's the last thing you do remember?" Abby asked.

She knew he was dead, but she'd play along with his plan anyway. She couldn't force him to believe her, and she would do whatever it was she had to in order to save him from the darkness.

Tony thought for a moment, screwing his face up in concentration.

"The elevator," he finally said. "I remember being in the elevator. Somebody must have drugged me, and I made my way here, and the drugs started to wear off while I was in the elevator. Who would drug me though?"

Who would drug him was kind of the same questions as who would kill him, right? She could use this to her advantage.

"I'll have to run some tests," Abby said. "I'll talk to Ducky too. He may know more than me."

"Will you call him? I went down to autopsy, but he's not there," Tony said.

"He's there," Abby sighed, picking up her desk phone and hitting the button that would direct her to Autopsy.

"Autopsy," the usually cheerful Scottish voice was downcast that morning, and Abby couldn't blame him. She wasn't feel all that peppy either.

"Hey, Ducky," Abby greeted him, keeping her eyes on Tony as an idea formulated in her mind. "How are you?"

"I've been better, Abigail," Ducky sighed. "This has not been a good day."

"I know," she agreed. "I'm feeling it too, Ducky. I'm going to come down, okay? I want…I need to see it for myself. Maybe we can have a cup of tea?"

"That sounds wonderful Abigail. I could use the company. I will see you soon," Ducky's voice sounded happy at the prospect of a visitor, and Abby promised to be right down before hanging up.

If she took Tony down to Autopsy, he would see his body, and that would solve one of her problems. It would probably devastate him beyond anything else he'd encountered before, but she'd help him through it- that was her job after all.

"Come on," Abby said, grabbing her bag of lunch to shove in the fridge on their way out the door.

"Where was he when I went down to see him?" Tony wondered, following after her.

"I don't know. I wasn't there," Abby shrugged.

It was not a long trip downstairs to the sliding doors of Autopsy. Abby had to pause and take a deep breath before she could go inside. Tony wasn't going to like this, and it was going to be hard for her, as well. At least with 'ghost' Tony she could kind of pretend that he was still around, but once she saw his body on that slab, she knew it would be real. Tony would know he was dead, and she'd have to accept it.

His body was covered by a sheet when they entered, and Abby was grateful.

"Where's Ducky?" Tony asked, not hesitating at the door as she did. "He's not here."

"Abigail," Ducky greeted from his chair in front of his computer, a glass of tea already sitting beside his mouse. "I'm so glad to see you. I do wish the circumstances were better, however."

"I know," Abby nodded to him. "Can I have a minute, please, Ducky? I just…need a minute alone with him."

"Have you lost it Abs?" Tony demanded of her. "Ducky's not here. It's just us, and this dead guy. Does Ducky usually leave the dead guys out when he's gone?"

"Of course, my dear. I'll get the tea started," Ducky responded, and he left the room for his private office.

"I think you need to see a shrink," Tony told her as she approached the sheet covered body on the other side of the room. "You're talking to people who aren't there."

"I think Ducky would say the same thing," Abby said.

Her hand was shaking as she stopped in front of the table and reached a hand out to pull it back. She'd been briefed on the condition of the body, and while she'd seen worse, it still frightened her to see her Tony in such a state. She'd never been squeamish, but she almost couldn't pull the sheet back, afraid of seeing him.

"I thought we were here to ask Ducky about the drugs?" Tony complained as he came to a stop on the other side of the table, gazing at her intently. "He was here when you called just a minute ago."

"For once in your life, Anthony DiNozzo, could you just be patient?" Abby snapped at him, holding her shaking hand over the sheet, and a pang went through her heart. Tony's life was over.

"Jeese," he muttered. "Who's the dead guy? I thought we had the weekend off?"

"It's you," Abby said softly, turning her shining green eyes on him.

"That's not funny, Abs," Tony's good mood evaporated instantly as his facial expression became aggravated. "We've been over this. I'm not dead."

"Just look, Tony," Abby implored him.

She wasn't ready or prepared to see it, but she pulled the sheet back to expose the body beneath. It was worse than she'd expected, but not as bad as her mind had led her to believe. There was no blood, and the body had been cleaned up, but it was still in pieces- his legs and arms separated from his torso, as well as his head. It was very clearly Tony- his handsome features slack and grayish.

'Ghost' Tony stumbled backwards upon taking in the sight of his own body on that slab in front of him. It was easy to divert her eyes from the body, because that's all it was now, to her friends face. Several emotions were passing through his eyes, the dominant being shock.

"But…but, no," Tony shook his head when his back had hit the wall of freezers and he couldn't get any farther away. "I'm not dead. I'm right here. Right here!"

She wouldn't say 'I told you so.' That would be inappropriate, so instead she approached him, laying a hand on his icy shoulder to comfort him.

"Get away from me!" He cried, at her touch, jerking away. "Just get away from me, Abby."

He faded into mist then, gone to where it was he'd gone. Abby looked back over at the body as tears began to fill her eyes. The look of devastated disgust on her friends face was just as bad as the slackness of the face of the body not far away. She'd do anything to bring him back, to change what had happened- if not for Tony, than for herself.

"Abigail?" Ducky called from the door of his private office, and Abby looked over at him sharply. "My dear, are you alright?"

"No," Abby shook her head as a tear spilled over her eye. "Tony's dead, Ducky."

Ducky walked over to her and stopped to pat her shoulder before she pulled him into a hug. It didn't last long, Ducky pulling away after just a few moments so he could recover the body and lead her towards his private office, where he assured her that the tea was prepared. Abby followed him feeling hollow.

"This was one of the hardest autopsies I've ever had to do," Ducky admitted when they were sitting in his office with mugs of tea. "I've worked with Tony for so long. He was always such a good lad."

"I'm going to miss him," Abby said, wiping more tears from underneath her eyes. "Has Gibbs got any leads?"

"No, not yet," Ducky shook his head. "They found nothing out of the ordinary in his phone and credit card records. None of his neighbors saw anything suspicious last night- nobody could say whether or not he'd been home after work."

"I'm running everything I've got," Abby murmured. "I've run DNA and fibers from his clothes, and I collected samples from his car, but no hits so far. Why would somebody do this, Ducky? Who could want to hurt Tony so much?"

"Jethro will find out," Ducky insisted. "He won't rest until the monster who did this has paid for his crimes. They were very close, Jethro and Tony."

"I know," Abby sighed, her thoughts turned to Gibbs. "Very close."

* * *

**A/N: Any thoughts?**


	5. Chapter 5: The Lab Scene

**Disclaimer: **I don't own NCIS. Not even a little bit.

**Chapter 5**

**The Lab Scene**

Every second that ticked past made Abby more and more anxious. Every second without a clue meant they were one step farther from Tony's killer then they had been before. Every second without a sigh of Tony's ghost was a second closer to his meeting with the darkness. She worked away the afternoon, going from her lab to the evidence garage and back again, trying to gather as much information as she could.

There was so much blood in the car that it made Abby sick. The truck, where his dismembered body had been discovered, was nothing but a giant stain of dried blood and body fluids. The front seat, where she believed the first blow had been delivered, was soaked with blood, and the dash board was spattered with it. She'd seen worse, but it had never been familiar blood. It had never been Tony's blood.

She ran scenarios on her computer, trying to figure out what would cause such spatter markings, but it was slow going. She used crime scene photos to add more scenarios to what had happened. There was a trail of blood from the driver's door to the trunk. Blood was pooled around the back of the car, leading her to believe that that was where he'd been chopped into pieces.

"How can I not remember dying?" Tony's voice broke through the silence of the lab at nearly three o'clock, making her jump.

He was sitting on the floor in front of her fridge, his back resting against the glass doors. He was watching her work at the computer, his face pale and a lost look in his eyes.

"I don't know," Abby said, abandoning her work to sit beside him.

"I don't know what to do," Tony admitted, wrapping his arms around his drawn up knees. "I'm not ready to die yet, Abby."

"I don't think anybody's ready to die," Abby told him.

"Who did this to me? Why? What did I do to make somebody hate me that much?" Tony questioned.

"We're going to figure it out," Abby promised. "Whoever it was isn't going to get away with this. Tell me what you remember from last night, Tony. What do you remember from yesterday?"

He was silent for a while, staring straight ahead. Just as she thought he was going to ignore the question and opened her mouth to implore him to answer, he spoke.

"I don't really know. Everything is all fuzzy," Tony sighed. "I know you. I know that we're friends. I know that this is NCIS, and I work here. I know that Ducky and you work here. We work together, but everything else is just a jumble of…nothing. It doesn't make any sense."

While she was used to some confusion and anxiety in the recently deceased, it was never anything like this. They typically remembered their loved ones, and their friends, and their lives. She wasn't sure why Tony couldn't.

"Just try to relax," Abby coached him. "Just relax and concentrate on yesterday. What happened yesterday? You were at work, do you remember working?"

Tony screwed up his face as he thought really hard, and Abby waited for his response. It took a moment, but Tony shook his head.

"It's like, it's right there. Right at the tip of my tongue, but I just can't grasp it," Tony explained, frustration seeping into his voice. "Like the name to a face. I can see pictures, but I don't know what they mean. They're just all discombobulated images in my head without descriptions."

NCIS

The only thing Abby could think of doing to help Tony was to show him pictures. Lord only knows how many pictures she'd taken of the team over the years. Now they would come in handy, and hopefully they'd help Tony figure out all the missing pieces. With a good memory, Tony would be able to tell her who exactly had killed him, and she would be able to give that information to Gibbs.

She plopped him down in the chair behind her office computer, clicked a few buttons, and drew up a file full of pictures she'd taken over the years. While her babies in the lab whirled away, she sat with Tony and went through a decade worth of pictures.

He remembered Kate pretty easily, but it took a while for him to remember that she'd been killed by Ari. He asked if she'd seen Kate after her death, and Abby had been truthful when she confirmed that she had. He hadn't seem perturbed by the information, and moved onto the next few photo's, most displaying Ziva.

The memories of people came to him pretty easily. He could pick out their names and tell her how they knew each other- if they worked together, or if they were friends- but he couldn't pick out details. He couldn't tell her just how close he was with Kate before she died, and he couldn't tell her anything about the teasing with Ziva. He couldn't recall the period of time when Gibbs had been in Mexico, though he knew that Gibbs was his boss. It was frustrating, but Abby knew that he was a good deal more frustrated than she was. This was his life being played to him on a computer, but none of it meant anything to him.

She was so focused on helping Tony identify people and cheering him on that she didn't notice McGee entire the lab until he standing at the door of her office staring at her as if she had two heads. She'd blushed bright red as she patted Tony's shoulder discreetly and hurried from the room. She always hated when somebody witnessed her working. Would McGee honestly believe that she'd been talking to Tony's ghost? She doubted it.

"I was talking to myself," Abby lied. "Thinking out loud."

"Right." McGee clearly thought she needed to be hospitalized.

"Did you find anything?" She changed the subject, shivering as she felt the icy touch of Tony's hand on her lower back.

"Not yet," McGee shook his head.

"I can see him," Tony whispered in her ear.

Abby's eyes went wide at that.

"Don't worry Abs," McGee tried to console her, unable to see Tony, and thinking that her shock was from the lack of a lead. "We're going to get the bastard."

"I know," Abby tried to cover for herself, wishing that Tony would go back in her office so she could concentrate on the conversation. "Gibbs won't let this guy get away."

"Maybe I can see Gibbs too!" Tony cried, letting go of her to jump around the lab with excitement.

"No, he won't," McGee assured her. "He's on the warpath. You're lucky you get to work down here and not up in the bullpen. Between Gibbs and Ziva, it's like working on the front lines. Have you been down to see him?" His voice going quiet as he asked the question, and she knew he hadn't been down to Autopsy.

"Yeah," Abby nodded, the ashen face of her friend erupting in her minds eye despite his ghost's excited presence just a few feet away. "He doesn't look that bad."

"I look horrible," Tony corrected her as he disappeared back into her office to click through the photo's again. She heard him excitedly point out a picture of McGee, using one of his old nicknames, and she almost smiled at his enthusiasm."

"I saw him, at the crime scene," McGee admitted, looking at the floor. "I…I almost threw up. I couldn't believe it was him at first. It was his car, in his neighborhood, and Metro had already popped the trunk and found is ID, but I couldn't believe it. I thought it had to be somebody else. It had to be a mistake. I don't think I've ever seen Gibbs look like he did then."

"How did he look?" Abby couldn't help her curiosity, even if it sounded insensitive.

"Lost," McGee answered after a moment of though. "Like he didn't know what to do. Gibbs always knows what to do."

"It'll be okay, Timmy," Abby tried to comfort him, slipping an arm around his shoulders. "We're going to find the monster who did this to our Tony. We're going to get him."

"I know," McGee nodded.

She invited him to stay a little longer. She really could have used the company of somebody who was alive, but McGee insisted that he needed to get back to work, and she'd reluctantly agreed when Major Mass. Spec began to beep. She bid him goodbye before hurrying to her baby, ignoring Tony's calls to her that he remembered that she and McGee had used to date. Did he really have to remember that?

The results for the blood sample she'd run had come back, and her eyes went wide as she looked over the print out. Hurrying to her computer, she anxiously clicked her fingers against the keyboard until the window she was looking for popped up and she scanned the information quickly. Glancing back at the print out and finally too Tony, she straightened up and bolted out of the lab.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Any Thoughts?**


	6. Chapter 6: The Bullpen Scene

**Disclaimer: **I don't own NCIS.

**Chapter 6**

**The Bullpen Scene**

"What did you find?" Tony demanded when she stepped off the elevator on the floor above the lab, only to find Tony waiting for her there.

She ignored him as she half ran to the bullpen, where McGee, Ziva, and Gibbs were all sitting at their desks. On the plasma screen was a picture of a smiling Tony- Abby recognized the picture as one she'd taken, and knew it was there to keep them working their hardest. Tony stopped to stand beside his desk, his eyes fixed on the plasma, but Abby didn't pay him any attention.

"Did you find something, Abby?" Gibbs asked, standing up to face her.

"In the blood in the car," Abby replied, slightly breathless from her hurry. "It's not all Tony's."

"It could be the killers," Ziva suggested, standing up as well.

"I'm running it through the computer as we speak," Abby assured them. "If his DNA's on file anywhere, I'll match it."

"Or hers," McGee pointed out. "It could be a female killer."

"I don't care what their gender is!" Abby snapped at him. "I just care that he or _she_ is caught."

"He," Tony whispered, and Abby glanced over to see him still staring at the plasma.

The picture had changed. Instead of smiling Tony, they were looking at a picture the inside of his bloody car. His eyes were wide and his hands were shaking.

"Are you sure?" Abby asked despite the fact that she was standing with a room full of people.

Tony nodded just as Ziva said, "of course I'm sure. We will catch this person Abby. We cannot lose hope."

She had no idea what Ziva had said or thought she was responding to, but she had other things to think about. Tony remembered something about his murder! That was a lot more than he remembered earlier. She had thought the key was in restoring his memory of his life, but now she realized she had it wrong. Instead of pictures of Ziva and McGee and Kate and Gibbs, she needed to show him pictures of the crime. She couldn't expect him to remember his murder if she didn't jog his memory about it.

Just as she was passing by to go back downstairs, promising she'd let them know when the DNA match came back, Tony grabbed her arm and stopped her. She waited for a moment while he looked around, knowing what he was trying to do. In the lab he'd touched her and managed to see McGee. Looking at his face, she couldn't tell if he could see the others or not.

She had never been aware that her touch could give him a glimpse of the world he'd left behind. She'd never gotten close enough to any of the recently deceased she'd worked with to let them touch her. Now that she knew she could do it, it seemed fitting. Tony could look at the people he'd once known. He could take one last look at them before he passed on. Perhaps if he saw them grieving for him, he could accept that he needed to pass on.

"Did you have something else?" Gibbs asked when she'd been standing there for a few moments.

"No," Abby shook her head. "I was just thinking…about Tony. He'll never sit here, at this desk, again." She hadn't realized how painful that thought was until it came out of her mouth. She hadn't even though about it until the words had already been spoken.

With Tony clinging to her, and helping him figure things out, she was getting used to his presence. While she knew he was dead, and it hurt her to think about some things, it wasn't real yet. Tony was still here, she still got to see him and speak to him. The moment he passed it was all going to come crashing down. For a brief second she didn't know how she was going to be able to handle that, but then she was leaving the bullpen, Tony right on her heels.

NCIS

Tony was taking looking at the crime scene photo's a whole lot better than Abby had when they had first arrived. It was as if he'd switched from the role of victim to the role of investigator. He spread the photographs across her stainless steel lab table and studied each one with a critical eye, looking for the small details he needed. She wondered what was going through his head as he moved the pictures around.

"Come help me," he called to her after a while, looking over at where she was sitting on the stool in front of her computer, which was still looking for a DNA match.

"I can't," Abby shook her head.

"Yes you can," Tony insisted, waving his hand from her to join him. "It's not hard. You've done this a million times."

"Not when the victim was you," Abby pointed out.

"Just pretend it's somebody else," Tony suggested. "That's what I'm doing. This is a case, and it might just happen to be my own murder, but it's just another investigation. Just think of it as another investigation, and I'm helping you crack the case. Come on. It can't be that hard with me standing right here."

He had a point, and Abby hopped off her stool and approached him with hesitant steps. She could help him. This was just another case, and he was right. He was right there. She could pretend.

"I was here," Tony said, pointing to a picture of the blood spattered front seat. "I was sitting here, and he tapped on my window."

"Was he a stranger?" Abby wondered.

"I don't remember. I just remember he was a man, and he tapped on my window and I got out of the car to talk to him. Did I meet him there? Was I expecting him? I don't remember what we talked about. It didn't take very long. He pushed me back into the car. I stumbled, I hit my head on the top of the car. It hurt," Tony recounted, closing his eyes, as if it was a film playing across his vision.

"Good," Abby urged him to keep going, slipping her hand into his icy one and squeezing. "What else, Tony? What else do you remember?"

"He was yelling. I don't remember what. I reached for my phone. I didn't have my gun. I left it- somewhere. I don't know where. I wanted to call Gibbs to help me. He grabbed my phone though. He snapped it in half. I tried to start the car. I wanted to get away. He was going crazy. I didn't feel safe. Who was he?" Tony tapped at his temple as if it would help him remember the face or the name of the man who had committed this atrocity. "My head hurt. My hands were shaking. I dropped the keys. I don't remember anything else. It's gone."

He was breathing rapidly, as if he'd just run a marathon, and Abby pulled him into a hug. It didn't last long, though, because the computer behind her began to beep, signaling that it had found a match. They turned around together and made their way the few feet to the computer. Abby hit a button, and Tony stumbled backwards when the face popped up on the screen.

"That's him," Tony nodded, pointing a shaky finger at the screen. "That's the bastard. I know him. Who is he?"

"Petty Officer Oliver Norman," Abby read the name from the screen.

It sounded familiar, but she didn't know from where.

"Oliver Norman," Tony rolled the name around on his tongue, gripping the edge of the lab table behind him for support. "He killed Katie Norman, but we couldn't charge him. He got off on a technicality. A probie- what's his name? I don't remember. It doesn't matter- made a mistake with the evidence. It was all we had against him and it go thrown out. Do you remember, Abby? It was a long time ago."

"I remember," Abby nodded, the case coming back as she listened to his story. "It's was Tommy Curtis. He resigned the day they let him go."

"Reminded me of McGee," Tony admitted.

"Only McGee would never screw up like he did," Abby pointed out.

"No. No, he wouldn't," Tony agreed. "Why would Oliver Norman want to kill me though? I really didn't play a big part in that case. I hadn't been working with Gibbs for very long."

"That's what Gibbs is going to find out," Abby assured him, grabbing her phone to call in the information.

* * *

**A/N: **So what do you think? We're coming to the end here, I'd love to hear yours thoughts!

**Also**, don't forget to check out This Ren on facebook!


	7. Chapter 7: The Interrogation Scene

**Disclaimer: **I don't own NCIS, or anything having to do with NCIS...unless you count the DVD boxsets I've purchased over the years.

**Chapter 7**

**The Interrogation Scene**

Abby insisted on being in the viewing room to witness the interrogation when they brought Oliver Norman in for questioning. They had his DNA at the scene of the crime, and Ziva had tracked down a witness that put him in the park that night. Now they just needed a motive. As much as she tried to jog Tony's memory about the conversation, he could remember nothing more. She held his hand in the viewing room so he could see what was going on, and she felt his hand squeeze tightly around hers when they brought the killer into the small room.

Now was, hopefully, when they would find out why exactly Norman had decided to kill Tony. Abby was very curious about it, and she didn't need Tony to say the words to know that he was too. This man had taken his life- ended his life. There had better be a damn good reason.

It was not a surprise to anybody that Gibbs was doing the questioning, leaving Ziva and McGee to join Abby and the invisible Tony in the viewing room. None of them spoke as they watched Gibbs enter the room and take the seat across from Norman. While Abby would have been shaking in her boots when facing an angry Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Norman looked confident, smug even.

"I want to hit him," Ziva said, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"Maybe Gibbs will let you when he's done," McGee responded.

"No. He knows I will not be able to stop," Ziva muttered.

"At least I know she cares," Tony said, glancing at Ziva and squeezing Abby's hand again.

Abby couldn't respond with words, but she squeezed his hand back in an attempt to comfort him.

"You can't hold me," Norman said before Gibbs could ask him a question. "You don't have any evidence to connect me with Katie's murder."

"You're not here because of Katie's murder," Gibbs corrected him, tossing a picture from the file he brought with him onto the table. "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. You killed him last night."

"Prove it," Norman responded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Your DNA in the trunk of the car. A witness putting you in the park," Gibbs responded.

He was pretending it was no big deal, but Abby could hear the coldness in his words. She didn't need to be able to see his face to know that his eyes were like ice. Gibbs was pissed off, and Norman was lucky the NCIS agent hadn't broken his neck the moment he walked into the room.

Norman didn't say anything as he tried to think of a way out of it.

"You're going to prison," Gibbs said. "For life. Was it worth it?"

"I didn't do it," Norman said quickly. Too quickly.

"Than why is your DNA in the car?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't know. I'm being framed," Norman tried.

"No he's not," Tony shook his head. "He killed me. I remember it."

"Why'd you do it?" Gibbs demanded, slamming a hand down on the steel table. "You killed an NCIS Special Agent. Why?"

"I didn't kill anybody," Norman protested.

"Don't lie to me," Gibbs thundered, standing up and slamming his hands down on the table so hard it made Norman nearly fall out of his chair from the shock. "You killed Agent DiNozzo."

"Yeah. You killed me!" Tony cried, anger seeping into his voice.

Abby squeezed his hand again, tightly, wanting to convey a sense of reassurance to him. He was upset, and she couldn't blame him. The bastard sitting on the other side of the glass had killed him. Abby herself wanted to kill him, so she couldn't imagine what Tony wanted to do to the man- he was the one who was dead, after all.

"I want a lawyer," Norman changed tactics.

"But I thought you didn't do it?" Gibbs antagonized him.

"I didn't," Norman said.

"Why do you need a lawyer then?" Gibbs shouted, getting within inches of his face. "Only guilty men hide behind lawyers."

"He took everything from me!" Norman suddenly yelled back. "That bastard took everything. I lost the love of my life, my job with the Navy, my friends, my family, my home, my money. I lost everything because of that bastard DiNozzo!"

"So you thought you'd teach him a lesson. You made a plan, lured him out, and struck before he could defend himself," Gibbs insisted.

"No," Norman shook his head. "I didn't plan anything. I saw a guy sitting in a car. I was going to ask him for some money for a burger. I was hungry. I haven't been able to get a job, and I don't have any money. I recognized him though. I told him it was his fault I was out on the streets and that he owed me. He got out of the car, called me a murderer.

"I was mad. I pushed him. He hit his head on the car. I wanted some money. I told him to give me some, but he wouldn't. He was going to call the cops, so I took his phone and broke it. He owed me, and I was going to get what I was owed! He pulled himself into the car, tried to drive off, but he wasn't right in the head. He dropped the keys.

"The stupid fucker deserved it. He took my life so I took his! I grabbed him by the hair and I took out my knife, and I pulled it across his throat so he'd bleed dry like the pig he is! And he did." Hearing the atrocity come from Norman's mouth, hearing him blame Tony for what had not been his fault, made Abby want to launch herself across the glass and strangle him with her own hands.

"How'd he get in the trunk?" Gibbs voice was so low and deadly that Abby knew that her anger couldn't even to compare to that of the lead agent.

"I figured it wouldn't be right to leave him in the front seat. A kid could come wandering along and find him, and I wasn't looking to punish a little kid. Just that stupid pig. So I dragged him out and around to the back to put him in the trunk, but he wouldn't fit. He was too big, so I took out my knife and I made him fit," Norman finished.

Tony yanked his hand out of hers just as Gibbs rounded the table and grabbed the back of Norman's head. Ziva was out of the room before she could comprehend what exactly was happening, and on the other side of the glass pulling Gibbs back before he could smash the murderers head into the stainless steel table a second time. McGee just stood there, frozen, and Abby wished she was somewhere else. All she could see in her mind's eye was the bastard on the other side of the glass hacking her friend to pieces.

* * *

**A/N: **So now you know the gory details behind the murder. What do you think? Was it anything like what you were expecting? Let me know your thoughts!


	8. Chapter 8: The Last Scene

**Disclaimer: **I don't own NCIS.

**Chapter 8**

**The Last Scene**

Tony's funeral was a lavish affair. The closed casket was white and adorned with a large, beautiful bouquet of flowers. There was a large picture of his smiling face beside it, and the chairs surrounding the freshly dug grave were packed with people who had come to mourn him. His father sat in the front row, and Abby could tell that he was holding back emotion. They hadn't been close for a long time, but they'd been reconnecting. It saddened her to think that they'd never get that chance now.

Gibbs sat just behind the elder DiNozzo, his eyes never leaving the casket that held Tony's body. They had considered an open casket- once dressed in a suit it was impossible to tell that there was any damage done to Tony's body at all- but Tony had been adamantly against it, and Abby had made sure to insist that it be closed, telling everybody that Tony wouldn't want anybody to see him not looking his best. Nobody could argue with that, so the casket had been left closed, and Tony had been relieved.

Had he asked, she would have sat in the back with him. She offered to his hold his hand through the service so he could see what was going on, but he'd refused. He didn't want to see who came to his funeral. He didn't want to know what people said. She saw him sitting in the middle of the aisle staring at the casket that held his body, but she didn't say anything or approach him, instead taking a seat beside Gibbs and allowing the older man to slip an arm around her in an attempt to comfort her.

Part of her still couldn't believe that she was sitting at Tony's funeral. Part of her still couldn't believe that Tony was actually dead. He'd move on soon- pass into the ether, but it scared her to think about it. Having Tony's ghost around was nice. It meant her friend was still with her. When he passed into the ether, he'd be gone, and she'd never see him again. It was a very depressing thought.

She listened to people he knew say kind word about him. She even offered a few herself about how loyal and brave he was. McGee stood up to speak for a few moments, and his speech had brought tears to her eyes. He'd really looked up to his partner, and it was clear that despite their differences, they'd been good friends.

When the ceremony had ended, she watched as the people around her left until it was just she, Tony's ghost, and Gibbs remaining. They all watched the casket, as if it was a beacon of light in the dark. Nothing else existed.

"This is my fault," Gibbs sighed after a long while, and Abby turned her intense gaze on him.

"Of course this isn't your fault," Abby insisted.

"It's completely my fault," Gibbs shook his head. "This shouldn't have happened."

"No, it shouldn't have," Abby agreed. "It's a terrible thing. Tony didn't deserve this, but it's not your fault. It's that stupid Oliver Norman's fault. He's the one who did this."

"If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have gotten the chance," Gibbs refuted.

She furrowed her brow at him. What was Gibbs talking about? Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Tony unfold himself from the aisle and make his way towards her, a look of curiosity on his face, wondering who she was talking too. She didn't turn her head when he passed by in the row behind them, but felt his cold hand rest against her shoulder. He wanted to know how was blaming themselves.

"He was at the house," Gibbs explained, unaware of the added presence. "He wanted to talk, but I was busy. I wanted to work on the boat. We got into an argument, and he stormed out. I didn't think anything of it. I thought I'd see him on Monday morning and everything would be fine. If I'd just taken a moment to talk to him, he wouldn't have been in that park. Norman would never had gotten anywhere near him."

He sounded so heartbroken, and it made her want to cry. This wasn't Gibbs, the boss, sitting in front of her. This was Gibbs, the human, and he was hurting.

"It wasn't his fault," Tony whispered.

"It wasn't your fault," Abby reaffirmed to Gibbs.

"I should have listened to him. I should have heard what he wanted to say," Gibbs persisted.

"I'd have gone to the park had he listened to me or not," Tony admitted. "I couldn't sleep."

"Gibbs, you don't know why he went out there. You don't know what he was doing. For all you know, he left your house, but when he got home he couldn't sleep. He loved that park. It make sense that he would go there to try and unwind," Abby tried to console his guilt.

Gibbs just shook his head, and Tony reached out a hand to touch the guilt-stricken man. Gibbs, unable to see him, simply felt an iciness against his flesh, and brushed at it. Tony removed his hand, letting it fall to his side.

"It wasn't his fault. He couldn't have stopped it," Tony sighed. "He needs to know that. He needs to know that I don't blame him."

Suddenly it became very clear to Abby why Tony wasn't being forced to move on. It wasn't that he didn't want to go- he wasn't being given the choice yet. The recently deceased stayed only long enough to finish what they needed to- to find closure for themselves. Gibbs guilt was keeping Tony there, and keeping the darkness away. The darkness had claimed Darnell because his business was finished and he refused to go, but Tony had yet to do what he needed to do. Unlike the others she'd helped, Tony didn't need help accepting his fate. He needed help convincing Gibbs that he wasn't at fault.

"Gibbs, you need to listen to me," Abby grabbed his shoulders and pulled him around to face her. "This isn't your fault. Tony wouldn't want you to blame yourself for this."

"Tony's not here, Abs," Gibbs reminded her. "He's dead, and it's because I was selfish."

"Tony's not here because some stupid bastard made a choice that ended his life," Abby corrected him. "You didn't kill him. You didn't cut him up and stuff him in the trunk of his car."

"I could have stopped it though," Gibbs said.

"No, you couldn't have," Abby assured him. "Don't you have a rule that there are no such things as coincidences?"

"What's that matter?" Gibbs scoffed.

"If it's your fault that Tony's dead, it means that it's just a coincidence that Tony was in the park at the same time that Norman was there," Abby pointed out. "It's all just one big coincidence that the man who wanted to kill him happened to be walking through the same exact park that Tony went to in order to unwind after a long day at work."

"There's no such thing as coincidence," Gibbs shook his head.

"Then it couldn't have been your fault," Abby said. "Somebody planned for this to happen. Maybe it wasn't Tony, or Norman, or you, but somebody did. God, maybe. It was Tony's time to die, and Norman needed to pay for what he'd done to his wife, so the pieces were lined up and put together, and that's left us here, right now."

"Are you saying its God's fault that Tony's dead?" Gibbs chuckled, looking back towards the coffin.

"It's more God's fault than it is yours," Abby replied. "It was his time to go, Gibbs. There was nothing you could have done to stop it."

She knew Gibbs wasn't going to be rid of his guilt in just a moment. He would hold onto that pain just as he held onto the pain of Shannon and Kelly's deaths, but at least it would plant the seed in his mind. At least it would start the healing process inside of him. It wasn't his fault that Tony was dead, and maybe he couldn't accept that right now, but he would eventually.

"Maybe," he conceded.

It was all she could ask for, and it was all that Tony could expect.

"Thanks Abs," Tony's voice brushed passed her ear as the icy hand on her shoulder seemed to warm up. "Look after him. He needs you."

She wanted to say something. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, and that she'd miss him. She wanted to tell him that she'd never forget him, but she couldn't- not in front of Gibbs anyway. She thought them instead, and a pair of warm lips touched her cheek before disappearing, and she knew that he was gone.

She couldn't stop the tears that overwhelmed her, but she wasn't expected to. Gibbs wrapped her in his arms, pulling her tightly against him, and together they cried.

* * *

**A/N: **So there's the end! I hope you enjoyed this story! There are just a few things I'd like to say before I bid you goodbye:

1) Why Tony was at Gibbs house in the first place is up to you. You can give their 'relationship' any kind of connotation you'd like: Slash, friends, father/son, boss/mentor. I didn't write this story with any relationship between them in mind. Their relationship can be whatever you feel like it was.

2) I wrote this story in about 2 hours, with a bit of editing before posting, and I'm sure it shows. I loved the story though, and I loved writing it, and I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I appreciate all of the reviews from you guys and I'm glad that you enjoyed this story as well.

**As always**, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this last chapter, and the story as a whole!


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